


Captain Douglas Richardson

by YellowBananaOwl



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-01-03
Packaged: 2018-05-11 14:08:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5629267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YellowBananaOwl/pseuds/YellowBananaOwl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Douglas' first day as captain of OJS.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Captain Douglas Richardson

**Author's Note:**

  * For [doorwaytoparadise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/doorwaytoparadise/gifts), [NovaWynn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NovaWynn/gifts), [TomatoFujoshi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TomatoFujoshi/gifts).



> I was bored, I asked for prompts. I got several. I decided to put them all into one story. I'm sorry.
> 
> Characters belong to John Finnemore

”Captain Douglas Richardson.” Douglas was putting on his new epaulettes and feeling quite content. He wasn’t particularly looking forward to having Herc around constantly, but knowing that Herc wasn’t in charge this time made all the difference in the world. That would wipe some of the smugness off of him. ”My name is Captain Douglas Richardson.” Martin had been right. It did have a nice ring to it. First Officer Douglas Richardson was just too long and didn’t sound as good. Captain sounded, and looked, so much better.

 

”Captain Douglas Richardson,” he hummed. ”My name is Captain Douglas Richardson.”

 

”You alright there, Captain?” Herc drawled.

 

Douglas jumped. He hadn’t heard Herc enter the office.

 

”Are you composing?” Herc wondered. ”It’s not enough that Carolyn finally made you captain; you’re writing an opera about yourself? Or maybe it’s a contribution for next year’s Eurovision? I know they’re always looking for such high-quality songs.”

 

”Entertaining as always, Hercules,” said Douglas and put on his new, and bespoke, jacket. ”I was simply humming a tune from a very popular Broadway musical.”

 

”And replacing the lyrics with your own name,” Herc shot in. ”Very creative.”

 

”Well, it worked, so why not?” Douglas pretended he didn’t care that Herc had heard him. ”It’s a good song. Now, have you picked up the weather report?”

 

”I just got here,” said Herc. ”I haven’t done anything yet.”

 

”Oh, how nice it must be for you, Hercules,” said Douglas. ”Sleeping with the boss and showing up to work whenever you feel like it.”

 

”Calm your trousers, Captain,” said Herc. ”It’s your first day in command. No need to start off as mean. Was it really _that_ awful for you under the strict regime of the fearsome Captain Crieff? Were you really so oppressed that you need to take it out on me on the _one_ day I come into work later than you?”

 

”Go and pick up the weather, Hercules,” said Douglas. ”And I’ll start on the flight plan.”

 

”Of course. _Captain_.” Herc saluted him and left the room.

 

Arthur came bouncing through the door seconds later. ”Hello Douglas. How are you today?”

 

”Hello there, Arthur,” said Douglas. ”Any exciting passengers today?”

 

”Oh, yes, loads!” said Arthur. ”There are two men who’s going on a trip for their anniversary, only just one of them knows so it’s a bit of a surprise. It’s very exciting and I’ve promised not to tell. I think they work with trains or something, because one of them had a train necklace, you know, just like Martin had that one with a plane on it that he bought at Duxford the fourth time we were there.”

 

”That’s great, Arthur, now can you go and -”

 

”And then there was an elderly gentleman with very attractive hands.”

 

”You studied his hands?”

 

”Just for a bit when he was showing me his ID. They were very smooth, Douglas. I’ve never seen such smooth hands on an old man before. Maybe he has a child’s skin? Isn’t that what they call it? I don’t understand why; I really hope he hasn’t taken the skin from a child.”

 

”Arthur, yes, thank you. That’s more than I need to know..”

 

”Oh, and Peggy.”

 

”Peggy?”

 

”Yes, a woman named Peggy. She owns a cat, and was really not happy when I told her we had to put it in the hold. I explained that we couldn’t have it in the cabin because people might be allergic, but that we always make sure the cats are okay, and that we’ll divert if we think it’s going to freeze. She got a funny look on her face when I said that. But I promised her we would make extra sure that the temperature was right and that it would be absolutely fine and she seemed to be a bit calmer when Mum came and talked to her.”

 

”Very good,” said Douglas. ”Now I’m on my way to the plane, don’t you have things to do there as well?”

 

”Brilliant, we can go together,” said Arthur. ”Anyway, the gentleman with the nice hands wanted to know how big the hold was, and I said I didn’t know, but we can fit a lot of things in there. Maybe not an elephant, but that’s mostly because the elephant wants to move around, and it would be tricky to fly the plane with a living elephant stomping about in the hold, but -”

 

”Arthur, please,” said Douglas when they reached the plane. ”I have… duties to tend to.”

 

”Oh Douglas, I completely forgot! You’re the captain now! How does it feel? Brilliant?”

 

Douglas smiled. ”It feels good.”

 

”Are you going to boss Herc around a lot?”

 

”Arthur, I’m sure he’ll get bossed around by your mother already.”

 

”Yeah, a bit.”

 

”But I’ll do my best to add to that,” chuckled Douglas.

 

In that moment, Herc came into the plane. ”Here you are, Captain. The weather.”

 

”Thank you, First Officer,” said Douglas and took the papers out of Herc’s hand. ”Now get started on the flight plan.”

 

”I thought you were supposed to do that,” said Herc.

 

”Nah, I’ve changed my mind,” said Douglas. ”And as the _captain_ , I’m not going to throw away my shot at making you do tedious things on my first day in command.”

 

”And what are you going to do then?” asked Herc. ”Walk around and compose your musical?”

 

”You’re writing a musical, Douglas?” asked Arthur. ”Brilliant! Can I hear it?”

 

”No.”

 

”Aww.”

 

”I am, however, going to go outside and do the walk-around,” said Douglas and turned to the door. ”I’ll let you two prepare the plane on the inside, and Arthur can tell you about our exciting passengers today. Apparently we have train staff, a man with pretty hands, and the eight maids-a-milking.”

 

”And Peggy!” added Arthur.

 

”Ah yes. Let’s not forget Peggy,” said Douglas. ”I’m going to go outside in the lovely sunshine and look at the plane, and _not_ be in the room where it happens. See you later.”

 

”In the room where it happens?” asked Arthur. ”This isn’t a room, it’s the galley.”

 

Herc shrugged. ”He’s been acting weird all day. I think this captain business is getting to him in a very strange way.”

 

Douglas smiled to himself as he put his hat on his head. He walked down the stairs and down on the tarmac and started walking around GERTI while singing to himself.

 

”Captain Douglas Richardson. My name is Captain Douglas Richardson. And there’s a million things I haven’t done. But just you wait, just you wait.”

**Author's Note:**

> My prompts:  
> Anniversary  
> Duxford  
> Attractive  
> Maids-a-milking  
> The room where it happens  
> My shot  
> Alexander hamilton  
> Eurovision  
> Hands  
> Add a cat…  
> Elephant  
> And peggy


End file.
